10 facts about Zika virus (ZIKV)

1. The name Zika comes from the Zika forest in Uganda where the virus was first described in 1947 from a rhesus monkey

2. ZIKV belongs to the Flavivirus genus and is related to dengue, West Nile, and Japanese encephalitis

3. Zika virus has a 11 kb positive-stranded RNA genome

4. ZIKV RNA genome contains a single long open reading frame (ORF) that encodes the viral polyprotein, subsequently processed into the 3 structural proteins and 7 enzymatic components

5. Mosquitoes, Aedes africanus, inhabiting the Zika forest are capable of transmitting ZIKV

6. 3 potential ways of transmission of ZIKV:  mosquitoes Aedes africanus, sexual transmission and placental transmission during pregnancy

7. Zika virus is strongly suspected to induce microcephaly in the fetus

8. Symptoms of Zika fever may be mild fever, skin rash, conjunctivis, muscle and joint pain, malaise or headhache. These symptoms last for 2-7 days.

9. A diagnosis of Zika virus infection can only be confirmed through laboratory tests on blood or other body fluids, such as urine, saliva or semen.

10. There is no specific treatment for the Zika fever. Paracetamol may help with the symptoms.

Sources:

• Image: Zika virus capsid, colored per chains. Manuel Almagro Rivas - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47941048. Source: Sirohi, D., Chen, Z., Sun, L., Klose, T., Pierson, T., Rossmann, M. and Kuhn, R. (2016). The 3.8Å resolution cryo-EM structure of Zika virus.
• Sikka V, Chattu VK, Popli RK, Galwankar SC, Kelkar D, Sawicki SG, Stawicki SP, Papadimos TJ. The emergence of zika virus as a global health security threat: A review and a consensus statement of the INDUSEM Joint working Group (JWG). J Global Infect Dis 2016;8:3-15
• van Hemert and Ben Berkhout. Nucleotide composition of the Zika virus RNA genome and its codon usage. Virology Journal (2016)
• http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/zika/en/